As we reach the midway point in the week, I am whisking you off to Cheshire for the gorgeous wedding of Bridget and Tom, courtesy of Samantha Kay Photography. Samantha is no stranger to the blog, she actually wrote for Boho Weddings a few years back when she appeared as one of my Boho Brides, in Diary of a Boho Bride. Since then she has taken a bit of a life change and we now see her as a wedding photography. I am absolutely delighted to feature her work for the first time here on the blog and I’m sure it won;t be the last time. Bridget and Tom chose a pretty marquee wedding, with a colour scheme of white, gold and blush and then added in lots of homemade details. A super pretty Cheshire wedding, I’m sure you will agree.

The most loved we have ever felt! The best party we have ever thrown!

Bridget and Tom were married on the 24​th​ July 2016 at St Laurence’s church, Frodsham followed by a reception at Cherry Orchard Farm, Cheshire. ‘Our local church where Tom grew up, beautiful country setting, with a relaxed atmosphere, we could create our very own unique wedding. We had 200 guests and took 6 months from engagement to the big day!’

How they met
I went to watch a friend play rugby and he happened to be on his team, being 6ft 10in he was hard to miss! A few weeks later we went for some dinner and we’ve been together ever since. We have been together 3 years.

The Proposal
Tom had convinced me we were going for dinner for his dad’s birthday. I had totally forgot that it was 2 years to the day since we had met. We were running late and I was rushing around the house. Once I was ready he stopped me in front of the Christmas tree and got down on one knee. Little did I know the birthday dinner had been a huge plot and our families were ready with champagne to celebrate!

How did you allocate your budget?
Our budget changed a lot over the 6 short months but in the end we did the whole lot for around £15,000! We wanted the most important part of our day to be about celebrating our love with our friends and family. We focused on a relaxed feel with good food and a great band. Location was also a massive factor for us, we didn’t want people having to drive far or spend a fortune on hotels.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
Marquees are much more expensive than we first realised and having a good sized bar was a must for us. Nothing worse than waiting for a drink! We made a lot of the food ourselves, as my mum runs a café, she did most of the work. Our cake was made by my mum and Toms mum. Friends gave us gifts of the most incredible cheese board and we had a local bakery provide the pizza out the back of a converted horse trailer. Our decorations were all put together with a team of friends and family and we even arranged some of the flowers ourselves. The table flowers were done by a florist but we provided the vases. We were able to sell almost everything we bought within two weeks of the wedding so we even made a little bit back! A close friend (who’s a wedding planner) even went on the morning of the wedding to add the extra touches, balloons etc. Our band were fantastic but not overpriced and provided music throughout the night as we had a later start! We did have a singer early on in the day (4pm) to greet the guests who was fantastic but we found him online, another bargain. The men’s suits were probably the best bargain we found. 3 piece suit including tailoring at £89 each… we bought 7 and got a 10% discount on top!

Why did you choose your photographer?
After meeting a number of photographers and getting to know them I realised that I wanted to be 100% comfortable with the person that would be seeing me on the morning of my wedding. A close friend of mine suggested that her niece was a photographer and I should look at her site. The images were relaxed and informal, just what we wanted! After meeting Sam, I felt like I had known her forever. On our big day, she was just like a bridesmaid, helping me get ready, topping up drinks, she even stacked the dishwasher!

Personal Touches
One of my bridesmaids is an artist and she provided all our chalk boards/paintings/signs around the venue. We also used sprayed rugby balls as our table numbers, as we both play rugby!

Special Moments or Highlights
We had the church pews set up so that everyone was around us. Walking in and being able to see everyone we loves face around us was just so magical. I truly felt so loved, special and happy in that moment.

Advice for Other Couples
Don’t sweat the small stuff! On the big day you really won’t notice and you’ll be blown away by how much you enjoy every second!

Biggest Surprise
Had a few little surprises, a beautiful wedding car off my step dad and a photo frame with a few of our adventures off Tom. My favourite though was when my little brother gave a surprise speech, it was so heart-warming and special to me. It meant the world and was really unexpected!

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